The Alfa gets a "physical".....***UPDATE***

Tomorrow I am taking the Alfa Romeo Spider to Daytona Beach for a thorough inspection from a very well known Alfa Romeo mechanic, Rick Lovecchio. Rick is going to spend a few hours going over the Spider and making a list of things which require immediate attention and things to do as funds permit. I am going to hover around while Rick does this and try to learn as much as I possibly can, as I do plan to do as much of the service work as possible myself.

Check out Rick's shop... RML Automotive

**********UPDATE**********

Yesterday was a great day in the Alfa Romeo shop in Daytona Beach. I got to meet Ric Lovecchio, the Alfa "guru" there. He is the sole mechanic in the shop and his wife Rose runs the shop office. Yesterday his 90 year old dad was there and he had a constant stream of friends stopping in to chat, etc.

It was a lot of fun and he is a great fella. He allowed me to linger around while he was checking out all the stuff on the car. That was a great learning experience.

Ric thought it was a really nice car, especially considering what I paid for it. He found the issue with the clutch. The master cylinder had a leaking seal, which made the hydraulic system lose pressure. Once he installed the new master cylinder (I got to assist by holding a flashlight), the clutch was transformed! I now have a load more confidence in the car!

Ric also replaced the oil light switch as one of the previous owners had installed the wrong switch (they installed the switch for the oil pressure gauge, not the light). Now the oil light works again!

Down the road I will need to do some front suspension work and probably some exhaust work but for now I will have fun driving it. I took it to work today and with my newly gained confidence I kept up with interstate traffic, hit ~80 mph and passed more traffic than I can recall :)

FORZA ALFA ROMEO!! :=)